Condom Intervention With Women

An intervention was developed to increase condom use among
sexually active young women. In a random assignment study, female college
students assigned to take part in the intervention were compared with female
college students assigned to a control group. During the six weeks
following the intervention, treatment women were significantly more likely than
control women to carry condoms and to practice telling their partners to use
condoms. Treatment women were not significantly more likely than control
women to purchase condoms or to discuss condom use with their partners during
this period. Among women who had intercourse during the six-week
follow-up period, treatment women were significantly more likely than control
women to have used a condom at last intercourse. This impact on condom
use remained significant at the six-month follow-up.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: Sexually active female college
students

An intervention was developed to increase condom use among
sexually active young women. The 45-minute intervention included lecture
presentations, video-viewing, group discussion, and skill-building exercises.

The intervention began by encouraging young women to accept
their sexuality and to be prepared for sexual activity. Participants were
reminded that they could decide whether and when to have sex, what specific
sexual acts they would engage in, and what steps they would take to protect
themselves from sexually transmitted diseases.

In line with the Health Belief Model, participants were
alerted to their susceptibility to sexually transmitted diseases, including
Chlamydia and gonorrhea. Condom use was presented as the best method,
barring abstinence, for preventing the spread of many STDs.

In order to increase participants’ self-efficacy for condom
use, the intervention addressed women’s ability to
obtain condoms, to tell a partner to use a condom, to respond to partner
dissatisfaction, and to put on condoms. To this end, participants watched
a video about purchasing condoms, were given condoms to keep, role-played
partner discussions about condoms, and practiced putting condoms on penile
models.

Evaluated population: A total of198 unmarried female
undergraduates at Arizona
State University
served as the study sample for this investigation. 79% of subjects were
white, 8% were Hispanic, 5% were Asian American, 4% were Native American, 3%
were African American, and 1% were of other
ethnicities. 76% of subjects reported having had sexual intercourse at
least once.

Approach: Subjects were randomly assigned to the
treatment group or to the control group. Subjects assigned to the
treatment group took part in the 45-minute safer-sex intervention in groups of
8-12 students. Subjects assigned to the control group took part in a
45-minute stress management intervention in groups of 8-12 students. Both
interventions were run by a female graduate student.

All subjects were surveyed on their sexual behavior before
taking part in the intervention, immediately after taking part in the
intervention, six weeks after the intervention, and six months after the
intervention.

Results: Immediately after completing the
intervention, subjects were surveyed on their condom-related attitudes and
intentions. Compared with control subjects, treatment subjects reported
significantly greater intentions to use condoms, and better condom
use self-efficacy, and condom-related attitudes. Treatment
subjects did not significantly differ from control subjects on perception of
susceptibility to STDs or perception of the severity of STDs, however.

During the six weeks following the intervention, treatment
women were significantly more likely to carry condoms than control women.
(This effect was moderate in sized.) Treatment women were also
significantly more likely to practice telling their partners to use condoms.
(This effect was small.) Treatment women were not significantly more
likely than control women to purchase condoms or to discuss condom use with
their partners during this period.

During the six months following the intervention, treatment
women were not significantly more likely than control women to purchase
condoms, carry condoms, or discuss condom use with their partners.

However, in a non-experimental analysis of women who had
intercourse during this six-month period, treatment women were significantly
more likely than control women to have used a condom at last intercourse at 6
weeks and at 6 months. (These effects were small-to-moderate in size.)